


Love at First Bite

by larajeansong



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, First Impressions, Flirting, Fluff, Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Karushuu Week 2016, M/M, Murder, Unconventional Vampirism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 03:50:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9105463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larajeansong/pseuds/larajeansong
Summary: Gakushuu Asano is a stressed out college student who’s just trying his best to do well on finals. Karma Akabane is a vampire who happens to think the stressed out college student he accidentally bit when they first met is really, really cute. Written for Karushuu Week.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Karushuu Week, Day 5: Temptation. Yes, I said _To the Ends of the Earth_ was going to be my only entry. I lied. However, these two fics will be my only two entries. No more.
> 
> Because there’s coffee shop AUs, and there’s vampire AUs, and then there’s _coffee shop with vampires AUs_ for double the awesome. Also, I just wanted to write an actual AU because everything I’ve written so far is canon-compliant, and who doesn’t love the idea of vampire Karma? He already has fangs in the canon. ;) Writing Karma’s POV instead of Gakushuu’s for once was especially fun.
> 
> Beware that this is a bit darker than my usual fic — some violence, blood, etc. It’s nothing serious, but there’s casual murder involved. (Wow, I never thought I’d type that sentence, and yet I just did.)

3-E is a small, cutesy coffeeshop on a moderately busy street filled with cafes and tiny stores. It’s shady, to be sure but the staff is pleasant, the prices are reasonable, and it’s full of plush sofas and comfy chairs. The shop has no actual name; 3-E is simply the number for the building itself. During the daytime, it sells the usual fare: coffee, tea, pastries, sandwiches, the like. At night, it still sells those things, but a different type of menu also becomes available.

Karma smells the human before he sees it.

He’s well-acquainted with the scents of Maehara and Isogai, the two overworked twenty-somethings who run the coffee shop during the night, and they’re not hard to ignore. Manami, a witch who’s closely connected to Korosensei, gives them pills daily that dampen the potency of the smell of their blood, so their customers are less tempted to chow down on them. This definitely isn’t Maehara or Isogai. This is an entirely different human.

And they smell _delicious._

Karma clamps a hand down over his nose, forcing himself to breathe through his mouth. He can’t allow himself to drink a human’s blood, at least not without their consent. There are things like _principles._ But he has to admit that right now, he’s pretty tempted.

He should turn back now. He’s been to 3-E enough times to build a tentative friendship with the others there, and Korosensei would be terribly disappointed to know Karma can’t handle a trip to the coffee shop by himself at night. He doesn’t need his mentor around to restrain him. If he was smart, he’d leave.

But Nagisa is expecting him. He hasn’t seen his best friend in a week. And quite frankly, staying in his huge, empty house can get boring sometimes, especially since Korosensei dismissed the maid. It’s a valid concern that Karma might eat her when Korosensei’s not around, or otherwise reveal his recently developed vampirism, but Karma doesn’t like the house’s _silence._ He never thought he’d miss living in his dorm.

He comes to a stop in front of the coffee shop, the human’s scent as strong as a siren song, but he forces himself to stay where he is. Turning back would be the wisest choice, he thinks.

Karma is an eighteen-year-old college freshman who has been getting into trouble for letting his impulses rule him since he could walk. He’s not wise, but it seems to have worked out for him well enough so far.

He opens the door to 3-E and walks in.

The human's scent is overpowering, but he forces himself to locate Nagisa without stopping to scan his surroundings for where the newcomer might be located. His best friend is perched on a couch in the corner, sipping a cup of coffee and immersed in a book.

"I have no idea how you can drink that," Karma says, plopping down on the seat next to him, and ah, fuck, he's forgotten he has to breathe through his mouth, getting a big whiff of Delicious Human's scent. He forces himself to smile at Nagisa anyway. "It's disgusting to me. Isn't it to you?" _Good, let it put a damper on my appetite._

Nagisa closes his book and sets it down. "You get used to it when your mom doesn't let you drink blood," he says with a shrug. "So how's the adjustment going?"

"Yesterday, I walked down the street in broad daylight without once getting the urge to attack a human or spontaneously bursting into flames," Karma says. "It was amazing."

Nagisa laughs. "I can't say I relate, but I'm happy for you."

Nagisa is a half-vampire, and as a result, he's never been tempted to eat a human being the way Karma is all too often. Aside from the occasional bloodlust, enhanced senses, and being unusually pale, he doesn't seem vampiric at all. Karma, however, is as vampiric as they come, and very, very new to it.

“Manami’s potions are amazing," Karma says with a sigh, and _stop breathing through your nose, stop breathing through your nose, why do you keep doing this to yourself?_ "I'll have to thank her sometime. Where is she today, by the way?"

"Over there." Nagisa nods toward the witch, who's curled up in the corner poring over a textbook thicker than her head, and _there's_ the human.

Nagisa shouldn't have drawn attention to him.

Karma is on the human before either of them realise it, sinking his fangs straight into the student’s pretty, pale skin, and he's as delicious as Karma suspected he would be. He inhales the human’s sweet, sweet scent, blood staining his lips and streaming down his throat. Karma never wants to drink packaged blood ever again; nothing tastes as good as fresh blood does —

He's kicked onto the floor, resulting in a loud _crack_ and pain radiating from his arm. There’s a fracture somewhere for sure. Karma looks up, and Delicious Human stands above him, one hand clasped to the wound on his neck and pretty violet eyes blazing with anger. “Do _not_ touch me,” he spits.

Karma feels two things.

One, the rare flicker of remorse. He lacked self-control when he should've been able to restrain himself, and an innocent human suffered because of it. This is exactly what Korosensei has been teaching him to avoid, and Karma has failed. Karma has never liked failure, even when he was still a human.

Two, _hello, angry, beautiful human who can apparently break a vampire’s arm and has truly gorgeous eyes_.

“My apologies,” he says. Even though he was drinking the human’s blood seconds ago, his throat is suddenly extremely dry.

"Do that again, and you're going to be apologising a lot more, assuming I don't rip out your teeth," the human says.

Karma's arm hurts like a bitch, but it'll heal. When he woke up as a vampire for the first time, he made the mistake of crawling over to the sunlit window and set three of his limbs on fire. It healed in less than an hour. He exhales, setting it straight with his other hand, and clamps down on his tongue to muffle the shout of pain. More blood fills his mouth, but it's not the human's. Stupid fangs.

Once his thoughts manage to stitch themselves back together, he drags himself to his feet, aware that everyone in the coffee shop is staring at him.

"No, I'm serious," he says. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realise what I was doing."

Delicious Human, who Karma is now renaming Beautiful Human if he doesn't tell Karma his name, stares him down. "I was almost done with the economics notes I have been spending _six hours_ compiling," he says. "And you got blood on them. I had _one section_ left."

"Karma," Isogai says quietly, laying a hand on Karma's arm. Maehara is already at Beautiful Human's side with bandages and a bag of blood, although Karma doubts he lost enough blood to need a transfusion. "Come on to the back. Maehara will help out Asano. Let's get you some food and some rest. You're looking pale."

Right. Karma probably looks terrifying, at least to the human, considering he has blood smeared all over his lips. He wipes it off with the back of his hand and follows Isogai to the back room.

"I'm sorry, Isogai," he says again, genuinely contrite. Karma's not sorry for much, but Isogai is a good guy. He's completely human, but he's never judged Karma, or anyone else, for being a vampire, and that's not a common trait among humans. "I didn't think I would lose control that quickly."

Isogai hands Karma a pouch of blood and a sanitary wipe. Karma glances down at the label. He supposes he can't blame Isogai for not giving him the special O negative like he usually does to the newborns, considering what Karma's just done. "No, someone should've told you about Asano before you showed up. You've never shown up at the same time before, so it didn't cross our minds."

Karma shrugs. Still his fault. He walked into the coffee shop knowing there was an unfamiliar human and with no one to restrain him. At the very least, he could've warned Nagisa, and Nagisa would've attempted to stop him. "That doesn't make me feel better, but thanks anyway. Don't tell Korosensei."

Isogai quirks his lips. "Korosensei will find out anyway."

"Because I'll tell him myself." Karma sighs and drains the pouch in one swallow, discarding it in the nearest trash can. It tasted terrible, but his appetite's mostly sated. He won't be attacking anyone for the next few hours. "Who is the human, anyway?"

"His name's Asano. He doesn't tell us much more than that, but he used to drop by here during the daytime for an espresso almost every morning. It's finals week now, and—" Isogai runs a hand through his perfect hair. "He comes in to study. He's pulled more all-nighters here than I can count."

"Isn't it against the rules to have a human in the shop at nighttime without clearance?"

"When we tried to get him to leave, he refused on the basis he couldn't take any study breaks until midnight, so we resorted to physical force. Terasaka came and told him to get out, and, ah." Isogai nods at Karma's broken arm. "He broke three of Terasaka's fingers and said he'd pay triple for the coffee if we left him alone, in that order.”

"Impressive."

Isogai squints at Karma. "You don't sound like you resent him for breaking your arm."

"I deserved it." Karma rubs his eyes, stifling a yawn. He didn't have the most regular sleep schedule before, but being almost completely nocturnal is taking some time to adjust to.

Isogai chuckles. "And here I thought I'd never see a humble Karma before the end of my short, mortal lifetime."

"I'm sure it happens every few centuries," Karma says, like he didn’t become a vampire three weeks ago. "You'll get to see it at least one more time if you turn, you know. I'll even do it for you, as a favour to a friend."

"No thanks. I'm happy with my miserably brief existence," Isogai quips. "You want to rest? There's a cot in the back, and you don't look like you've slept enough."

"Stayed up the entire day with Sensei experimenting with whether I'd burst into flames whenever a ray of sunlight hit me, so I wouldn't mind taking a nap later, but not right now." Karma's already heading back out the door. "I need to make amends."

"Karma, I don't think that's a good idea—"

"I'm the king of not-good ideas, Isogai, you already knew that," he calls out, and finds Beautiful Human — Asano back in the corner, a bandage over the bite on his neck and a scowl on his face as he eyes a textbook large enough to rival Manami's.

Asano glances at him, then goes right back to scowling at the textbook. There's a bloodstain on the cover. "What do you want? I'm not giving out more free samples."

Normally, Karma would make a joke about the implications that he can _buy_ a sample, in which case, _yes, please_ , but he doesn't. He straightens. "I'll rewrite your notes for you."

Asano glances at him again, but this time, he doesn't look away. "Most of it is salvageable. You only ruined three pages."

"I'll rewrite the three pages, then," Karma says. "I'm a vampire. I have superhuman speed. It won't take me long. I'll throw in your remaining section, too."

"You can't write notes for that if you don't understand them."

"I'll understand them," Karma says, crossing his arms. "I was working on a future as an economic politician up until three weeks ago. Show me."

Asano heaves a sigh, but no overworked college student can say no to someone offering to do their labour for them. He hands Karma the textbook and his blood-splattered notes. "Watch your handwriting," he says.

The process isn't fun, especially since Karma's arm takes several more minutes to heal and that's the arm with his writing hand, and the soreness still lingers afterwards. Asano looms behind Karma every minute of his rewriting, correcting small mistakes in his penmanship and formatting, and Karma's not allowed to write as fast as he'd like because of Asano's insistence on checking for errors as they go along. Still, it takes less than half an hour to do what Asano spent his evening on.

Karma passes four blood-free pages over to Asano when he's done. The human spends a minute skimming over it and finally gives a brief nod.

"The name's Karma Akabane, by the way," Karma adds.

"I have two packets of math revision left," Asano says, already turning away.

"I'm good at math, too."

"You're not the one taking my exams," Asano snaps, pulling yet another textbook out of his backpack. He tosses one final glance at Karma. "Gakushuu Asano."

Karma grins, the smallest bit of victory singing in his veins — "Nice to meet you, Asano" — and heads back over to Nagisa.

* * *

 Predictably, Korosensei has a meltdown when Karma tells him about the incident.

"You asked how the visit to the coffee shop went, so I told you how the visit to the coffee shop went," Karma says as his mentor slumps onto the floor and buries his face in the carpet, emitting a muffled howl of despair. "Anyway, the human is alive and intact, and so am I."

"You're very much not alive, Karma," Korosensei says into the carpet. "You're undead."

"I'm undead and intact, then."

'You attacked a human! You drank his blood!" Korosensei raises himself up on his eyebrows and stares at Karma, his expression pleading. "You've never done that before. And I thought you were my most promising protégée yet."

"Korosensei, it's fine. I assure you that I'm not going to go out and stalk the streets like some brooding _Dracula_ character just because I've had a taste of human blood and I want more."

"The only vampire in _Dracula_ is Dracula. The character you're talking about is Dracula."

Karma waves a hand. "I didn't major in English literature. You should leave that to Nakamura. Anyway, my point is, I made a terrible mistake—"

"You can sure say that again!"

"—but nothing came of it in the end. I'll keep taking my blood bags like a good little vampire, no matter how much better it tastes while it's fresh. I'll take a lot of vampiric suppressant potions. All will be well, Korosensei."

Sensei still spends the next three hours moping, but he gets over it eventually, and Karma figures that'll be the last of it that he needs to worry about. 

* * *

The next night, he sends Maehara over to Asano with a steaming hot triple espresso he's paid for himself and a note scribbled on a napkin: _you make my heart stop_. Asano takes the espresso off the tray with a puzzled frown and scans the coffee shop.

Karma makes eye contact with him and grins.

Asano's facial expression doesn't change as he returns to his textbooks. He still drinks the coffee, though.

* * *

It's a Friday night when Karma pushes into the coffee shop and Irina Jelavic is there, trying to flirt an extra cup of O negative out of Maehara. The irritation on Isogai's face screams _get away from him_ as Irina coos over how beautiful his boyfriend is.

Karma leans against the counter, scanning the pastries. Most human food has lost its taste, tragically enough, but some tastes weren't lost when Karma turned. Most sweets, for example, and spicy food, too. "I feel bad for you," he tells Isogai.

Isogai makes a face. "Sometimes I try to rescue him if he's looking especially desperate, but then she tries to flirt with both of us, and that's worse. I'm never sure how to deal with succubi." He nods at Asano, who's tucked away in the corner as usual, a ring of textbooks and notebooks marking his claim on the territory. "I wish I was as effective as he was. The first time Irina saw him, she said he looked delectable, and he didn't even look at her. I can't afford to be rude to my customers, though."

Karma clicks his tongue. "Ever the gentleman. I'll have a hazelnut brownie."

"Of course. Anything for him this time?"

Karma follows Isogai's gaze back to Asano again. "I'd love to, but I _am_ a broke college student."

Isogai grins. "No amount of free coffee can get through to him, anyway."

Karma gets his brownie and saunters over to Asano, who's immersed in a book about the history of Japan. He doesn't look like he's reading for fun, judging by the annoyed crease between his eyebrows. "So how's your night been?" Karma asks, sitting down across from him. He still tries not to breathe through his nose around the human, but when he's close enough, he can _smell_ the caffeine in his blood.

Asano flips to the next chapter. There are calluses on his fingers, Karma notes — a musician, maybe. "I've been studying since 8 AM this morning."

Karma glances at the clock. It's 11 PM. "Without breaks...?"

"I ate lunch."

"He ate a muffin," Maehara says, appearing out of nowhere. It looks like he escaped Irina's clutches. The relief on his face says as much. “Just checking, but you sure you don't want anything else, Asano?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

Maehara snorts. "Karma, I know you're the vampire here, but I don't think you're the least human one."

"You should take a break, Asano," Karma drawls. "Given that you've been studying for over twelve hours."

"I've heard this lecture before. I'll pass."

If only he'd look at him. Karma pouts.

"You don't need to be my friend because you tried to eat me and you feel bad about it,” Asano says bluntly. "I didn't have to go to the hospital and you made up for the brief hindrance in my revision, so we're even. You can leave me alone."

The _can_ obviously meaning _should._

Maehara's off to rescue a betrayed-looking Isogai from Irina, so Karma takes advantage of the semblance of privacy they have and leans forward. "I don't think so, Asano," he sings, the _s_ in the human's name hissing through his teeth. "You're far too pretty for that. And far too interesting."

Asano slides a bookmark into his history book, probably because he's too perfect to dog-ear the page. "I'm pretty boring, actually," he says calmly, picking up a pen. Karma thinks for a second he's going to stab him in the eye, but Asano merely begins writing a summary of the chapter. "I'm just another college student doing my best to ace my finals. There's nothing interesting about that."

"The fact you have to say so indicates otherwise," Karma says. Asano's hair falls into his pretty eyes; in the lighting of the cafe, they're the colour of amethyst.

The human doesn't respond. Karma sighs and departs to chat with Nakamura instead. 

* * *

It doesn't stop him from sitting down across from Asano the next night.

"You're remarkably irritating, aren't you," the human says, curling his lip.

Karma smirks. It's cute when Asano is annoyed, he decides, although it's even better when it escalates to murderous. He's not in the mood for another broken arm, though. "I really am. So, how's your day slash night been going so far?" He tilts his head to the side. "No, wait, I think I can guess. Studying, studying, studying, and coffee."

"A largely accurate assessment," Asano says. "However, I'm leaving in ten minutes, so you don't have much longer to be obnoxious."

Karma raises an eyebrow. "You usually stay until daylight. What's going on this time?"

"I'm going to get a full night of sleep."

"I don't believe you."

"You don't have to. It won't keep me awake at night." Asano closes his book and shoves his pen into his pencil case, which is A4-sized and holds four different sets of pens along with pencils, erasers, a ruler, and sticky notes. Karma can tell just by looking at it that Asano is a colour coder. "I try to get one six-hour sleep period every three days."

"And what do you do for the other two nights if you're not sleeping six hours?"

"I nap five times a day," he says. “One for three and a half hours, the other four twenty minutes.”

Karma blinks at him. "You're joking."

"Ask Maehara and Isogai. They let me borrow the cot in the back room quite often." Asano shrugs. "However, on those days, I only get about three hours of sleep, so I've been feeling fatigued lately."

"I definitely couldn't tell," Karma says, staring at the enormous circles under Asano's eyes. "Your sleep schedule is more fucked up than a vampire's any day. Or night."

Asano gives him a sharp, wicked smile. It's not friendly. "I've been told more than once that I'm more fucked up than vampires in general," he says, stuffing his pencil case into his backpack, which is so enormous that if Karma didn't know him, he'd assume Asano was going on a camping trip. "Regardless, it'll be 5 AM when I wake up, and I won't be coming back for the morning. It's quiet enough at my university campus that I don't need to worry about disruptions to my studying. I hope you don't miss me too much."

"I think I'll survive," Karma says. "I just don't know if you will."

"I'm touched," Asano says with an offhanded wave, and walks out the door. 

* * *

Asano is there again on Sunday night. The circles under his eyes are a bit lighter than usual, which is how Karma knows he really did sleep longer than usual. Instead of hovering over a textbook, he's typing away on his laptop.

"My night has been fine, thank you," he says before Karma's even sat down. "My finals are in a week, so I'm making a backup copy of my notes on my computer to study when I can't carry my binder everywhere."

"Sounds fascinating."

Asano cocks his head. He doesn't stop typing. Karma suspects he's memorised his notes word-for-word; he doesn't even have them out. "How old are you? I can tell you're new to being a vampire, but what's your age in human years? Eighteen? Nineteen?"

"Eighteen," Karma says, his expression arranged in casual unconcern as always to hide that he's kind of happy Asano is making a basic attempt at talking to him.

"Do you go to college?"

"I'm a freshman, yes. When I was turned, Korosensei — he's my mentor — put in for me to drop out for the semester for medical reasons. I'll be back next semester, assuming I've learned enough self-restraint to act human. And you?"

"Eighteen, too. Freshman." Asano frowns. "You're losing a semester of credit."

"I'm still self-studying my courses, and Korosensei will pull strings to ensure that I get to take the exams as soon as possible when I get back, so I'll still get the credits. It's a hassle, but it's doable."

"I see." Asano is still typing. Karma's about to think they're going to have an entire conversation like this, with Asano typing and talking at the same time, but then the human glances at his screen and curses, pressing down on the backspace.

Karma's lips twitch. Seeing a frustrated Asano is hilarious. "Not going to share any more details about me with yourself?" he prods. "After all, I'm sure there are far more interesting aspects to you than what year of college you're in. I don't even know anything about you except that your name, your sleep schedule, and that you study far too much.”

"And yet, with such minimal information, you still do your best to hit on me."

"And yet, despite your lack of interest, you've yet to tell me to go away," Karma says.

"I think I've been pretty explicit about how busy I am, Akabane."

It's the first time Asano's called him by name. He spits _Akabane_ like it's poison, gorgeous and dangerous, and Karma grins. "But no matter how bothered you are, you haven't actually said to leave."

It's a risky move. Knowing Asano, it could result in being shot down hard, and Karma has his principles. If Asano tells him to fuck off and never come back, Karma would at least stop flirting with him. (Or _trying_ to flirt with him; he admits to himself that his attempts so far haven't been too successful.) There are such things as boundaries. He's been nice to Karma today, though.

Asano nails him with a stare, but it's not hostile. "And I'm not going to," he says.

Karma's grin is so wide his fangs bite into his bottom lip, leaving small smears of blood behind.

Asano clicks his pen. "If you'd decided to come at a time other than the week preceding finals, I might let you buy me another coffee, but as it is, there are more important things than you and your overinflated ego."

"I'll take that to mean wait until _after_ finals," Karma says.

Asano goes right back to revision, but he still doesn't contradict Karma. 

* * *

Karma is walking to the café using a different route from usual, since he's coming from the game store rather than his house. He's bought himself a couple new video games, and there's a swing to his step today as he saunters to 3-E with his hands in his pockets.

He smells Asano before he sees him, as he always does, but something is different this time. Karma shifts into his bat form and flies to the roof of 3-E for a better vantage point. Asano is standing just outside the café’s back door, something clutched his hand that shines in the light. Karma squints, but vampire bats don’t have vision much better than normal bats, so he shifts back into his human form and crouches down on the rooftop.

It’s a glass bottle filled with clear liquid. Karma racks his brain, trying to figure what it is. Vodka? Water? Poison?

That’s when it hits him why Asano’s scent is different — adrenaline is racing through his veins. On any other human, it would be the scent of fear, pathetic and marking them as easy prey, but Asano’s hands are steady at his sides, his heart beating faster than normal but his face the picture of composure and unwavering defiance and oh, _God,_ Karma could just eat him alive like this. Too bad Asano would rip out his throat first.

The other vampire moves faster than Karma can hope to track with his own eyes.

Asano throws himself to the side, and his attacker, a pallid woman with crimson red eyes and fangs so long they jab into her lip, leaving smears of blood on her mouth, runs flat into the wall. She snarls, her eyes wild, and launches herself toward him again.

He moves, graceful and faster than a snake, and smashes the bottle against the wall with a sound that rings in Karma’s ears. The only thing that pierces through the haze of shock is the woman’s feral scream as she collapses to the ground, an ugly, wide gash in her neck. It immediately begins to stitch itself closed, but it may very well be too late. The blood pouring from the wound isn’t a good sign for her.

 _Holy water,_ Karma realises, staring at the broken bottle. The woman’s fallen into a puddle of the liquid. Her blood drips into it, turning the puddle a shade of bright, vivid pink.

Asano makes a contemptuous noise. “Newborns,” he scoffs, and draws the broken bottle across the back of her neck, creatwing a thin line of blood. She screams again and arches her spine in pain, trying to scramble away, but he brings down his foot on her back. The movement shifts her face straight into the puddle.

Karma has heard the ugly sizzle of burning skin before. He knows how to identify it.

Asano crouches down next to her melting face, a sweet, deadly smile twisting his lips that says _predator._ It’s the first time Karma has ever seen him smile. “You probably had no idea what you were getting yourself into,” he says. “So I feel a little bad for you. But not _that_ bad.”

He snaps her neck in one clean stroke.

“I know you’re up there, by the way,” he calls up to the rooftop. He doesn’t even bother looking up. “Feel free to come down. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Karma jumps off the rooftop without bothering to transform into a bat. The landing hurts, but whatever damage it causes will fix itself in seconds. “You’re a vampire hunter.”

There’s no reason he should be confronting Asano instead of running straight into 3-E and telling everyone to clear out, that they have a mole. Hunters are a clever bunch. They’ve learned not to kill whatever vampire they see, but to instead fish out information about larger groups first so they can wipe out a bunch of vamps at once, and he supposes it’s not surprising Asano is one of them, even if the thought disappoints him. He _did_ like Asano.

Until Asano scoffs, all incredulity and dismissal, and Karma tries to hide the relief on his face. “What are you talking about, Akabane? No, not at all. My father’s involved in the supernatural world. I just happen to know how to deal with supernatural creatures as a result.”

Karma blinks. “Wait, so your father is—?”

“I’m as human as you thought I was,” Asano says smoothly. “Your vampire senses aren’t dull enough they’d lie to you, although you yourself are rather dull, you know. My father’s human. My mother is a werewolf, but she was transformed after she gave birth to me. He decided to learn a little more about how her kind worked.”

“Oh,” Karma says, knowing how dumb he sounds but not caring. “So you can kill vampires really effectively. And other supernatural creatures, too.”

“Not _that_ effectively.” Asano gestures at the dead vampire’s head. “Honestly, it’s embarrassing that I needed holy water to kill her. Don’t tell my father about it. He’d scold me for needing anything besides my bare hands, especially since she’s a newborn with no training.” He shrugs. “She’d been following me for two hours. She was just trying to feed off of a random human, and she picked the wrong human to mess with. You don’t need to worry about me killing any vampires, so long as they don’t try to kill _me._ ”

“Oh,” Karma says again, and thinks, _Not only are you beautiful and brilliant, you can also kill a vampire in the same amount of time it takes to complete a math problem._ Shit. This infatuation is going _way_ too far. “I’m glad you’re not a vampire hunter.”

“I’m shocked,” Asano says drily. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to study for finals.”

“You’re going to leave the corpse lying here?”

Asano eyes the woman’s body. “I suppose I shouldn’t. I don’t want to frighten Maehara and Isogai when they come out here during their break.”

“I’ll help you get rid of the body,” Karma offers.

“How sweet of you,” Asano drawls. “Alright, then. How about burning the body?”

“Good idea.” Karma grins at him, flashing his fangs. “How about you find some gasoline and a lighter, and I drag the body somewhere less conspicuous?”

Asano’s violet eyes widen. “Why, are you saying that because you’re a _vampire,_ you must be stronger than I am, so of course you’ll do the heavy lifting?”

Karma just stares at him. “If I kicked this building hard enough, it would come crashing down.”

Asano grins back. There are no fangs in it, but it screams _lethal_ anyway. “I was kidding, Akabane. Just remember that I could kick your ass regardless, even if I would be too smart to kick a building.”

Karma wants to kiss this boy. He also wants to kill him.

He doesn’t do either, but he does laugh, low and wicked, and responds, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Asano goes off to find the gasoline and lighter. Karma pulls off his jacket and wraps it around the woman’s neck and face to keep the blood off him, hoisting her body over his shoulder. Her body is limp and cold against his as he goes off in search of the perfect place to dispose of a corpse.

* * *

“You know, in the vampire world,” Asano says as the vampire’s body erupts into flames, “it’s not actually illegal to feed off of a human.”

“As I am a vampire, I’m aware of that, yes.”

Asano shoots him a glare. “It _is_ illegal to murder a vampire.”

Karma yawns. “Don’t worry about it, Asano. Of course I’m not going to report you. That vampire would’ve drained you dry, and it _is_ illegal to murder a human.”

(Asano’s eyes are even prettier than normal when they’re illuminated by the firelight, Karma thinks distractedly.)

"Why didn't you kill me when we first met?" he asks. "I was a newborn vampire trying to feed off of you. It's the same circumstances."

Asano raises an eyebrow. "Not because of the delightful chemistry you're convinced we have, Akabane. I simply didn't know in advance you were going to attack me, so I didn't have a calculated plan for how to deal with you. Besides, Maehara and Isogai would've kicked me off the premises for murdering their friend. They agree that injuring a vampire is acceptable if it's a wound they'll easily recover from and it's from self-defence, but murder is inexcusable."

"Well, it seems like we just got lucky, then," Karma drawls. "Because if you'd murdered me, we never would've built the delightful chemistry we have now."

"Shut up, Akabane," Asano says, but for the first time, Karma catches the beginnings of a smile tugging at his lips. 

* * *

"Oh, and I thought you should know, Sensei, since you were so worried about that human I attacked a few days ago," Karma says offhandedly. "Asano's fine now. We're friends, kind of." They did dispose of a body together, after all.

Korosensei's newest protégée, a boy named Itona, is a few years younger than Karma and has been as much of a handful as Karma was in the first few days. He occupies a lot of Korosensei's attention nowadays, but the vampire never forgets any of his students, even when Karma protests that he is fine, thank you, he can go to the convenience store at 1 AM without murdering the single cashier who works the night shift. Karma has taken all his medicine for the past few days, and last night, he could barely smell Asano at all.

The smoke from the flames probably helped, though.

"That's good, Karma," Korosensei says, his ear pressed against the door to Itona's bedroom. Itona tosses and turns in his bed, still trying to adjust to the difficulties of sleeping during the day. "I'm glad you're making such rapid progress. In under a month of being a vampire, you've gotten to the point you can be around normal humans unattended — and wait, did you say Asano?"

"Oh, yes. His name is Gakushuu Asano." Karma frowns. Korosensei is still pressed against the door, but a flicker of alarm has crossed his face. "What about it?"

"Gakushuu Asano," Korosensei repeats.

"Yes."

Korosensei abruptly springs away from the door and begins to flail his arms in a wild, inelegant fashion that makes Karma think of tentacles. "Gakushuu Asano!" he says in a terrified whisper, keeping his voice low so he doesn't wake up Itona. "Karma, that's the son of Gakuhou Asano!"

"So his father has the same surname as him?" Karma furrows his eyebrows. "Am I supposed to be surprised?"

"I'm not talking about surnames! Gakuhou Asano is one of the most powerful humans in the supernatural underworld! He has ties to the vampire mafia!"

"Okay, first of all, there's a vampire mafia? Why am I not in it?" Seeing the look on Korosensei's face, Karma proceeds to his next point. "Second of all, I already knew Asano's family is involved in that sort of thing. What's the big deal?"

"Asano — the older one, not your Asano — could do serious damage to me if he finds out one of my students nearly killed his son!" Korosensei seems to have lost the ability to speak in anything besides exclamation marks. Or to stop flailing his arms. What is he, an octopus? "He could order me killed if he doesn't like you! He could order _you_ killed!"

Korosensei grabs Karma in a hug and sniffles into his shoulder. "Oh, my beloved student," he sniffles, not quite crying but sounding pretty close to it. Karma doesn't hug back. "It's the end of all of us! You'll have to write your goodbyes to Nagisa and Manami; there's some paper in the corner. Any moment now, the Asanos' assassins will burst through the door and take both of us, and possibly Itona too!"

Karma's shirt is stained with tears as Sensei actually begins to bawl. When he glances at his shoulder, he cringes at the spots of crimson, pushing his mentor away. "Sensei, what the fuck? You cry tears of blood?"

"M-most vampires can't do it because they just don't know how," Sensei blubbers, passing a hand over his eyes. It only stains his fingers red as well. "But if you've drunk enough blood recently, t-then you can do it for dr-dramatic effect—"

"Oh, for God's sake," Karma says, backing away. He doesn't care if vampires aren't supposed to use that word; this situation is ridiculous. "Sensei, calm down. That's disgusting. I'm going to go change my shirt, and while I do that, pull yourself together." 

* * *

It's Wednesday morning, marking five more days until Asano's last final. Karma is wearing a coat, a hat, and scarf — it's more than chilly enough to justify it — when he saunters into the coffeeshop.

"Welcome to 3-E—" Isogai starts, but his eyes widen when he sees who his newest customer is. "Karma, what are you doing here? It's 7 AM! Aren't you worried about burning up?"

"I took my medicine, don't worry," Karma says with a dismissive wave. The pills that Manami creates to eliminate the adverse effects of sunlight on vampires’ skin is merely called sunscreen _,_ even though it looks nothing like actual sunscreen. "I'm wearing more than enough clothing to cover myself up."

"There are other customers here! Human customers!"

"No one is sticking around at 7 AM in the morning. Everyone will buy their coffee and leave, don't worry." Karma glances around. "Except Asano, of course."

Even though the shop is empty except for the two baristas and Karma, Asano still insists on holing up in the corner with his notes. He's looking straight at Karma, his violet gaze piercing him like a spear. "Good morning, Akabane."

Karma beams. "Good morning. You don't look like you want to murder me, so I assume you had your coffee."

"I'll get another at noon anyway," Asano says wryly. "Why are you here?"

"I felt like it." Karma shrugs. "I want to be able to go back to college next semester, so I have to adjust to being a vampire among humans. If I can't even go out during the daytime, I'll have trouble pretending to be a functioning human being. Besides, I wanted to see if you're less prickly when you're not surrounded by vampires."

Asano smiles. Actually smiles, the kind that has his eyes crinkling around the corners and wipes some of the tension from his face, not the cool, sharp smirk he usually gives Karma whenever the vampire says something stupid for attention. Karma likes both expressions a lot. Funny how helping someone get rid of a corpse will improve your relationship with them. "Then come sit with me."

Maehara comes to stand beside Isogai at the counter, wrapping an arm around the dark-haired boy's waist. "Wow," he stage whispers into Isogai's ear. "Next you know, they'll be getting married."

Isogai's lips twitch. "We've been pushing for improved relationships between humans and vampires for several years. Don't you think that's a good thing?"

"Of course," Maehara says, kissing Isogai's cheek before ambling off to the kitchen.

The two baristas of 3-E are disgustingly cute, they really are. Karma rolls his eyes at Isogai as he sits down across from Asano. Isogai just stares after Maehara, a fond expression on his face.

"How did you get turned?" Asano asks.

Karma blinks, refocusing on the human. "What?"

Asano tilts his head. "I asked how you were turned."

"Mm, telling you would make it hard to maintain my brooding, mysterious aura, don't you think?" Karma sees the human's expression and snorts. "It's nothing that dark, actually. I picked a fight with a vampire."

Asano exhales. "Of course you did."

Karma shrugs. "In my defence, I didn't know he was a vampire. I didn't even know vampires existed."

"Fantastic," Asano says. "So you just picked a fight with a random stranger."

"It relieves stress. You should try it sometime, Asano. Minus the getting turned, I mean.“

Asano snorts, taking a bite of his muffin. “Just call me Gakushuu.”

The vampire blinks. “You do know that we’re not nearly that close, Asano. Yet.”

“Call me Gakushuu,” Asano repeats, ignoring the suggestion in Karma’s _yet._ “You’ve literally drunk my blood. In the vampire world, that’s to kill someone, turn someone, or hit on someone. It’s an expression of intimacy. Calling me Gakushuu isn’t much worse.”

“Wow, _worse._ I’m aware that I fucked up when I met you, Asa—“ His violet eyes flash, brilliant and dangerous. Karma swallows. “—Gakushuu.”

Gakushuu smirks at him.

"So what happened after that?"

"After I met you?"

"No, you idiot. After you got into a fight with a vampire because you're impulsive and make bad choices."

"I'll consider that a term of endearment," Karma says. "The vampire beat me, but he decided he liked my fighting spirit, so it would be a tragedy to kill me. He turned me instead. After I was turned, my current mentor, Korosensei, found me bleeding out in a back alley and saved me."

"Korosensei," Asano—Gakushuu says, weighing the name on his tongue. "He's affiliated with most of the regulars at this coffee shop, correct?"

"Yes. He's an old vampire. He helps us baby vampires learn to be civil and not bloodthirsty mass murderers, or whatever vampires normally do with their time."

"I've heard of him, yes."

"And he's heard of you." Karma gives Gakushuu a cold stare, all traces of obnoxious flirtatiousness gone to let him know he's serious. Korosensei was overreacting for sure, but it never hurts to be careful. "If you kill some reckless newborn who was trying to feed off of you, or you break Terasaka's fingers, then that's fine. But don't kill any of the regulars here, not even that meathead, and don't touch Korosensei."

Gakushuu arches his eyebrows. "You're worried about my father."

"Essentially."

"Don't worry about him," Gakushuu says, rolling his eyes. "I'm a college student trying to revise for finals, and I'm not interested in being any more than that. I have no malevolent intentions. I'd certainly rather not be associated with my father."

"Tension in the family?"

"I'm hardly the only one," he responds. "You've been a vampire for almost a month, and your parents haven't noticed? You have _family issues_ written all over you."

Ah, there's the intelligence Karma knew he had, and it's not born of rigorous note-taking or the ability to stare at textbooks for hours at end without a headache. It's innate, and sharper than any vampire's fangs. "That's true," he says. "Once I went off to college, my parents gave up the slightest pretence of caring about me. And Korosensei is a better father figure than they ever were, so I'm happier for it, actually."

"I see," Gakushuu says. "That's touching enough I suppose that if under circumstances threatening to myself, I'd feel marginally less tempted to harm the people you love."

Karma snorts. “I’ll take that, I suppose.” 

* * *

At noon, Karma decides he's had enough. Not only is it boring to watch the human customers go in and out, Gakushuu is still too immersed in his studying to make good conversation. Karma has been entertaining himself by chatting with Maehara and Isogai, but they have to work too, and he resorts to keeping a tally of the customers so he can tell Korosensei later on _look at all these people who came within ten metres of me, and yet I didn't try to suck out their blood!_ Unfortunately, that's not that entertaining either.

"Okay, that's it," Karma says, standing up. He extends his hand to a bewildered Gakushuu. "I've been here all day with you, and you haven't eaten a single thing besides a blueberry muffin, have you?"

"It's enough calories to keep me going," Gakushuu says, scowling at him, but he's not going straight back to rereading his notes for the millionth time, so that's something. "What are you going to do about it, force-feed me?"

Karma doesn't drop his hand. Gakushuu is smart and gorgeous and way too cocky for someone who doesn't believe he won't get an A on his finals without being able to write his own textbook on the course, but he's also so tightly wound that Karma can feel the stress emanating from his every cell. "I'm taking you out to lunch."

"Vampires hate eating human food," Gakushuu says, squinting at him. "It tastes like nothing to them."

"I can taste it, actually, and other vampires can too. I merely can't taste _most_ human food." The widest taste range Karma knows any vampire to have is Kayano's; she's capable of tasting anything with sugar in it, which is a lot of things. "It won't provide me any nourishment, but I'll still eat it with you. Now, come on."

Gakushuu finally takes Karma's hand and allows himself to be pulled to his feet. "Fine, then. I don't have any money."

"We'll spend Korosensei's money," Karma says breezily.

"I'd rather not aid and abet your crimes, Karma."

"We'll spend my parents', then. The only thing they're good at is giving me money and hoping it makes up for their neglect," Karma says flippantly.

Gakushuu doesn't laugh, but he does nod.

Karma takes him to a restaurant a few blocks away. It's a respectable establishment, nothing shady like 3-E, and as a result, it's bustling with customers. Extremely human, blood-filled customers. Karma bites down on his tongue hard. He's never been enough of an asshole to refer to humans as bloodbags like some other vampires do, but right now, that's all they smell like to him.

He snags Gakushuu's wrist before they can enter the restaurant. "Give me a second," he says.

Gakushuu stops. Karma reaches into his backpack and fishes out a small container of pills.

Manami's appetite suppressants used to come in the form of potions, but not anymore, and when he expressed surprise at the fact, she just laughed, high and tinkling, and said, "We're not in the Middle Ages anymore, you know. Science and magic can do amazing things when they work side by side! Besides, it's a lot less conspicuous. You can always say you're taking painkillers for a headache or something."

There's a label on the side of the container. Manami's precise, careful handwriting reads, _Do not take more than 4 in a span of 24 hours. Do not take more than 2 at one time. Ideally, take 1 pill every 6 hours. Pills should take around 30 minutes to take effect._

Karma swallows two dry. He should wait the expected half an hour to go into the restaurant, but he's not patient enough for that, and Gakushuu won't appreciate that he could've spent any wasted time studying. "If I try to drink anyone's blood, I won't press charges if you break a few of my bones stopping me," he says to Gakushuu. "Make sure to leave my beautiful face intact, though, it's a gift to this world."

Gakushuu snorts. "I'll keep that in mind."

Entering the restaurant is horrible. Karma distracts himself from the scents of the customers by counting how many of them there are, to describe the experience to Korosensei later. Gakushuu gets the hint and asks the hostess for a table for two in the corner.

"Holding up well?" he asks Karma as they're sitting down.

Karma manages to smirk at him, obnoxious as ever. "Couldn't be better."

"I'm sure." Gakushuu picks up the menu. "Would you like some coconut water? They offer it here."

The redhead blinks. "Yes, actually, I would. I didn't know you knew about that."

Coconut water is considered an acceptable substitute for blood in some of the more advanced places, although it's yet to really catch on. Most tropical vampires drink it. That's for the best, since the sun takes a bit longer to go down in the tropics, so they need to do their best to blend in with the humans. Korosensei himself picked up the practice recently a few years back, so he encourages his students to do so as well, and while Karma has difficulties living off of coconut water alone at the moment, he's slowly but surely weaning himself off of blood.

Gakushuu taps a finger against the menu. "I grew up in a household where supernatural creatures were coming in and out all the time. Combat skills weren't the only thing I learned from that."

"Hm," is all Karma says. He scans the menu as he reaches for the basket of bread sitting in the centre of the table.

Gakushuu frowns at him. "Are you eating garlic bread?"

“Yes, what about it?"

"I was aware vampires were capable of it," Gakushuu says. "I didn't think it was on the list of food you'd be able to taste, though."

"I can't. It tastes more boring than oatmeal."

"I like oatmeal. It's nutritious," he says, because of course Gakushuu Asano likes oatmeal. "That aside, why are you eating it, then?"

Karma shrugs, taking another bite. "Spite. Vampires don’t die, sure, but they’re allergic to it. It's a gesture of pettiness toward everyone tells me being a vampire must be awful because I can't eat garlic bread."

"I've scored nothing but A's in my Japanese classes since third grade, and yet no matter how hard I try to comprehend what you're saying, it doesn't register."

Karma waves a hand. "Then stop trying to comprehend it and eat some of the garlic bread with me. I liked it as a human, and I've always had excellent taste, so no matter how it is to me now, it must still be good to other humans."

Gakushuu arches an eyebrow. "And since you like O negative blood, and you have good taste, I must like it too."

"I said as a human," Karma says, shoving the basket of garlic bread at him. He promptly sneezes.

"Ah, there's the allergic part." Gakushuu takes a bite of the bread. "Does the spite taste good in your mouth?"

Karma scowls at him, then sneezes again. "Yes, it does, actually," he says. He'll bother Manami for help later, in case he breaks out in hives, but his "allergy" isn't strong enough for that. That doesn't mean his eyes aren't watering, though. He sips more coconut water.

* * *

Gakushuu comes back to 3-E looking satisfied and faintly amused. Karma comes back with red eyes and his entire face feeling like an itch.

Maehara and Isogai both left their shifts at 7:15, since they only take the night shifts; their families run the coffeeshop together during the daytime. A girl a little younger than Karma emerges from behind the counter, seeming to recognise Gakushuu with a casual nod, but she frowns at Karma. "Vampires aren't allowed in here."

"Both of your brothers have told me that today," Karma says with another sneeze. He remembers Korosensei crying tears of blood and supposes he should be grateful he doesn't at least sneeze blood. That would be a new level of disgusting. "You're not going to drive me out."

She scowls at him. It's Isogai's sister, without a doubt; the Isogai family's hair antennae is practically their trademark. She hadn't been here when Karma and Gakushuu left for lunch, but Isogai's younger brother had, so he assumes she traded off with him during that time. That scowl is all her own, though. Karma swears the only time he's seen Isogai get anywhere close to scowling is when Irina made a rather tasteless joke about drinking Maehara's blood.

"He won't stir up any trouble," Gakushuu says, sitting down in his usual corner and taking his laptop out of his bag. Karma supposes he could only hope for so long that Gakushuu would let himself be on study break. "Don't worry about it, Isogai."

"You're Karma, aren't you," she says, her scowl unwavering. "You're the one assaulted Asano last week."

Karma clicks his tongue. It's times like this that he misses Isogai, who hands out forgiveness like free samples at the grocery store. Still, he acknowledges he deserves this girl's dislike. "I am, yes. I sincerely regret it, and I've done my best to atone for it."

"As the person he attacked, I'm fine with him staying." Gakushuu waves a hand, and her scowl lessens a little. "Now, if you'd like to continue atoning, this is a good time to put that vampiric superspeed to excellent use and copy down the notes for this section onto my laptop."

Karma arches his eyebrows. "That's blatant exploitation of my abilities."

"I'll tell you how to treat your allergic reaction if you do it."

Gakushuu bringing it up is enough to make Karma sneeze again. He rubs at his eyes, trying to get them to stop watering. "Why would you know how to treat that?"

"My father has spent a good amount of time dealing with vampire mob bosses who don't like to admit they can be defeated by something like garlic," Gakushuu says drily. "He likes to invite them to dinner and put it in their food, just to play mind games with them. Now, are you going to write my notes for me or not? Not even you could fail at transcribing something word-for-word."

Karma tries not to think about how the inside of his mouth feels like it might be breaking out. He'll just have to type those notes quickly. 

* * *

On the one night that week that Gakushuu doesn't come to 3-E, Nagisa shows up. Karma gets to see his best friend far less often than he'd like nowadays, since Nagisa is a college student who takes day classes, and he can't stay up all night whenever he wants to see Karma. It's always nice when Karma does get to hang out with him, though.

"So," Nagisa says, sipping a cup of coconut water. He drinks it more than the 3-E vampires do, since it's the closest he gets to having blood. “I heard you’ve made a new friend.”

If it was anyone else saying this — Korosensei, for example, or his high school teachers — it would be accompanied by screaming, confetti, the blast of trumpets, and a lot of crying. Karma never had anything less than flawless grades throughout his entire life, but he's not known for being a social butterfly. When his aunt heard he was getting along with his roommate at university, she said she was proud of him for the first time in eight years. (His aunt has always been dramatic.)

It's Nagisa, though, so he's smiling at Karma but not bawling. Karma stirs his mug of AB. "I don't know if Gakushuu would agree with that term."

"I'm sure he does. He can be rather hostile to everyone else here, so if he's not scowling at you twenty-four-seven, it's a good sign."

"More like twenty-three-seven," Nakamura says, joining them at their table with a laugh. "The remaining hour, he's smiling at you like he's contemplating how great it would be to set you on fire and dance in the ashes."

"Didn't he _actually_ set Terasaka on fire?"

"Nah, but he tried. Hey, look, there's Okuda. I hope she has more appetite suppressants. I haven't hung out for a few days with that cute girl I was texting, and I don't want to lose control — hey, Akabane, did I tell you about her?"

Karma is already waving Manami over. "Did you know you can treat a vampire's aversion to garlic?"

Manami blinks at him from behind her huge glasses. "I haven't tried, since it's not a strong enough concern. What did you find?"

Karma hands her a piece of paper that Gakushuu gave him. It’s a lot of medical jargon that Karma, loathe as he is to admit it, doesn’t understand, but it seems to make sense to Manami as she reads it.

"Hm, I can see why it would work," she says. "Thank you, Karma. By the way, I dropped off more suppressants at the counter with Isogai if anyone here wants them."

Nakamura is off in a flash. Nagisa chuckles, taking another sip of coconut water. "So Asano gave you that, Karma? He does like you, then. I imagine he'd be happy to let the rest of us die from our allergies."

"Don't try to paint in a positive light," Karma says with a snort. "He didn't do it for free."

"And don't be so pessimistic, Nagisa," Manami adds. "Asano's always been nice to you and me."

"He is, but neither of us are vampires."

"That doesn't mean we're harmless," Manami says. She doesn't look deadly — Karma has over a head of height on her — but he'd rather face off with a vampire than her any day.

Not that Nagisa has ever been harmless either. Karma had found out about his half-vampire heritage only after the redhead was turned. It definitely explained a lot of weird things about Nagisa, like how he was far less squeamish about blood as a middle schooler compared to his classmates, or how something about him was always _unsettling_.

His best friend shrugs. “That’s fair enough, I suppose. How has Korosensei been, Karma?”

“As overbearing as always.” Karma frowns down at his mug. If he doesn’t drink it faster, it’s going to coagulate. “I wanted to go somewhere else tonight, but he said I should stick with you all. It’s exhausting.”

“Aw, and here I thought you loved us,” Nakamura said, reappearing with one of Manami’s tiny containers. “Or were you just not interested because Asano wasn’t here?”

Karma elbows her. “You’re all tolerable,” he allows.

“High praise coming from you.” She snickers and plops down beside him. “Any plans on coming to the reunion next month, by the way?”

Most of Korosensei’s students are regulars at the coffee shop, but a few, once they acquired the self-restraint needed to live by themselves without murdering anyone, have gone to other places. The only one Karma knows about is Korosensei’s first student, who was apparently quite young when he was turned, and who Korosensei absolutely refuses to talk about. That one won’t be showing up to the reunion, he assumes.

Karma yawns. “I don’t know. Is there a point if I don’t even know them?”

“We’re a group, Karma, you need to think about collaboration,” Manami says, twisting her braids anxiously. “It’s really useful to have connections. Werewolves aren’t the only ones who like to be in packs.”

“I’ll consider it,” he says. Karma is pretty sure if he was a werewolf, he’d be the very definition of _lone wolf,_ but then, he’s not one, and he doesn’t particularly want to be.

Nakamura grins at him. “Also, it’s Maehara’s and Isogai’s five-year anniversary.”

“Only?”

She crosses her arms. “What do you mean, _only?_ They’re human, so that’s practically a lifetime!”

“I know you’ve been a vampire for a few years, Nakamura, but as someone who recently turned, I can say that no, that isn’t ‘practically a lifetime,’” Karma deadpans. “Haven’t they been friends since childhood?”

“Some people take a long time to act on their feelings!”

“Are we talking about me?” Maehara calls, setting down a tray of free samples on the counter. He makes his way over to them. “That sounds like gossip. What’s this about?”

“Your five-year anniversary with Isogai. Karma thinks that that’s not such a long time, considering you were friends for a while before that, but it seems like ages to me.”

Maehara laughs good-naturedly, dusting off his hands on his apron. “I mean, I wouldn’t say _ages,_ but it’s long enough.”

Everyone at the table exchanges a glance. A strange silence hovers over them for a second, then Nakamura claps a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God,” she says, her eyes widening. “You’re proposing to him, aren’t you?”

“Nakamura, I don’t know how you got that from ‘long enough,’” Karma says, but he gapes at Maehara when the human gives a slight nod. “You really are?”

“Don’t tell anyone else,” Maehara says, putting a finger to his lips. He glares at Nakamura. “Especially you, you old gossip. If you spoil it for Yuuma, there’s going to be a bloodbath.”

“Very clever,” Nakamura says drily, but her eyes are still wide. “ _Seriously,_ though? You’re getting _married?_ Aren’t you guys, like, sixteen?”

“We’re twenty-four years old, we attend graduate school, and we have steady jobs.” Maehara sticks out his tongue. “Don’t act like we’re infants just because you’re immortal.”

Nakamura frowns at him. Manami cuts in, “That’s great, Maehara! I’m happy for you two, and Nakamura should be too. We’ve all been wondering when it would happen.”

Maehara blushes. Nakamura sticks out her tongue right back. Nagisa laughs and says, “Make sure we all get invited to the wedding, okay?”

“Don’t worry, I will. Except maybe Korosensei. I don’t want him sobbing all over the place.”

Excluding Kayano and Irina, none of the regulars in 3-E have been a vampire for more than eight years, and Karma knows that’s not a lot of time. None of them were older when they were turned than Maehara and Isogai are now, and it’s always the younger ones, like Nakamura, who still spend their time babbling about the cute girl they met the other day and _do you think it sounds like she’s into me?_ He can’t help wondering what it’s like for all your friends to grow older every day while you’re the same age forever. No wonder Isogai and Maehara seem so happy to be human.

* * *

Gakushuu walks in on Sunday night, provoking a couple curious stares. Usually, he's there before anyone else, since he's around during the daytime too. He gets the most curious stare of all from Karma, who rises from his spot next to Itona and says, "You don't have anything with you." No backpack, no laptop, no textbooks, nothing.

"Hot chocolate, please, add marshmallows and whipped cream," Gakushuu calls over to Isogai. He meets Karma's gaze. "Indeed I don't. Who's this?"

"Itona," Karma says, a bit cautiously. The name is both an introduction and a warning to the newborn, who's trying his best not to bare his teeth.

Itona hasn't even been a vampire for a full week, and a vampire that young would normally be in confinement until he could stop trying to sink his teeth into anything that moved, and some things that didn't. However, Itona is one of those rare few who try to tear apart everything in the first forty-eight hours, then lapse into sullen silence, so Korosensei thinks it's a good time to introduce him to the other 3-E vampires, most of who are Korosensei’s students as well. He's on special suppressants strong enough that Karma doubts he can see straight.

Karma still wishes Gakushuu wasn't here, though, and the human seems to understand as much. "You're new, aren't you," he says, blinking down at Itona. "I'm Gakushuu Asano."

"If only you were that nice to me when we first met," Karma says with a sigh.

Gakushuu tilts his head, revealing the bite mark on the side of his neck. "Do you keep forgetting this?"

Itona seems to perk up at the sight of it, his interest piqued. "Did he claim you?"

 _"What?_ " Gakushuu asks, an edge to his tone.

A grin splits Karma's face. He pats Itona's head, careful to avoid the places covered by his bandana. They're the same patches of his skull his creator tried to rip out with his teeth; the boy's transformation wasn't fun. "No, Itona. I didn't."

"Sensei says it's a common practice among vampires to stake their claims on humans," Itona says, observing Gakushuu's neck. "If they do it correctly, they can keep the human as a nice, docile pet to feed off of periodically."

"I would hesitate to describe Gakushuu as _docile_ ," Karma says, enjoying the way fury adds several centimetres to Gakushuu's height. "But no, Itona. We don't do that. That's barbaric."

Itona, for whatever reason, has this creepy obsession with _strength_ that Korosensei is doing his best to quash. He's a weird kid in general, but Karma remembers how hard _he_ tried to kill Korosensei during his first week, going so far as to threaten suicide, so he shouldn't judge. Karma should at least try to correct the _dominate all humans_ idea, though.

"If I sit down, will you try to kill me?" Gakushuu asks Itona, disdain twisting his lips.

Itona blinks slowly. "No. I don't feel hungry."

"Excellent." Gakushuu sits down across from the two of them. "I'm not doing any studying tonight, which is why I don't have anything with me, and I'll go home at two.”

"Tomorrow's your last exam," Karma says.

Gakushuu nods. "I'll be relieved when it's over," he says. "I've done enough studying that an all-nighter won't help me."

"Then why are you here?"

"To thank Maehara and Isogai for not kicking me off their premises during finals even though I've injured two of their regulars," Gakushuu says, inclining his head toward Karma and then Terasaka, who's laughing with his buddies across the room. "I'm making a donation to the coffee shop."

Karma blinks. "That's oddly sweet of you."

"Don't spoil them. I won't let them know until midnight. And I came to tell you something." Gakushuu's eyes flick to Itona, then back to Karma. "I'm free after finals. We get a one-week break." He leans over, bridging the gap between him and the redhead, and presses a scrap of paper into Karma's hand. "Here's my phone number."

Karma's eyes widen. He almost kisses Gakushuu right then and there, but _after finals_ rings in his head. "I'm honoured."

"The human seems rather docile around _you_ ," Itona says, and Gakushuu shoots him a poisonous glare. 

* * *

Karma shows up to the coffee shop at noon the following day and asks Isogai's scowling sister when Gakushuu's exam ends.

"I'm not going to leak his private information to you like that," she says.

Karma should've come sooner, so he could get one of the other Isogai siblings. He makes a face. "I promise that I'm trying to do something nice for him. If I buy something, will that make you happy?"

"You realise we only sell blood past 10 PM," she says.

Threatening to rip out someone's throat is not an appropriate response, Karma reminds himself. If he was human, he wouldn't have hesitated, but as a vampire, that just looks bad, since he's not regarded as trustworthy to begin with. "I'll buy something anyway."

She gives him a disgruntled stare. "You're not going to make me like you because you throw money at me."

Karma thinks that the reason Isogai's sister and Gakushuu get along is probably because they have the exact same personality. "Fine, then," he says, pulling out his phone to occupy himself. "I'll wait until he shows up."

"What are you going to do that's so important?"

"Celebrate exams being over?" Karma frowns at her. "What else?"

She sighs. "His exam ends in fifteen minutes. He told me this morning, when he came to pick up his coffee."

He blinks. "Thank you." _His exam is over in fifteen minutes? Who wants to take an exam in the morning?_

"Don't mention it."

Karma knows Gakushuu's university is only a fifteen-minute walk away. The coffee shop's proximity is one reason he's so fond of it. That means Gakushuu will be here in about half an hour. Karma is completely unprepared for this, at least emotionally. He feels like a middle schooler proposing to his crush with a ring pop. 

* * *

Half an hour later, Gakushuu walks in, his complexion paler than usual with exhaustion but the lines in his face less pronounced. He doesn't seem surprised to see Karma sitting there in the corner, a steaming cup of hot chocolate on the table.

"Did it go well?" Karma asks.

"As well as any of the other exams," Gakushuu says, sitting down. Since the hot chocolate clearly isn't for Karma, he picks it up and takes a long swallow. "So, what are you here for today? I'm not willing to watch you suffer through another allergic reaction, as hilarious as your torment is."

"Here." Karma slides a piece of paper across the table — a movie ticket.

Gakushuu reads the title, then groans. _The Night Children._ "This is a vampire movie, isn’t it?“

"it'll be funny."

"You'll point out all the inaccuracies and have an excuse to scare innocent moviegoers, won't you."

"It'll be _hilarious,_ " Karma amends. "It's tonight at 8:30. Meet me at the entrance here at 8?” He'd like to make it at an earlier time, since it's not his only plan for Gakushuu, but he's depleting Manami's sunscreen supply, and Itona is younger. He needs it more.

"I'll come," Gakushuu says. "But just so you know, I keep a spray bottle of holy water in my dorm, and if you try to make any bad jokes during the movie, I will spray you with it."

"It’s going to be fun. You act like I’m—“ Karma pauses for dramatic effect. “—sucking the life out of you."

The glare Karma gets for that is worse than sunlight.

* * *

When Korosensei asks him if he can watch over Itona for the evening, Karma shakes his head. "Sorry, Sensei, but I have other plans for tonight."

"Oh, no, it's fine. I'll just ask Terasaka—" Korosensei narrows his eyes. "Wait, what plans?"

" _Well._ " Karma stretches out the word to an agonising length. "You remember Gakushuu Asano, I'm sure."

"The one I warned could order all of us killed if you didn't exercise caution?"

"Actually, it just stopped at _could order all of us killed._ You didn't mention that second part. But anyway, remember how I told you I attacked him and sucked out his blood because I was an impulsive baby vampire with no self-control?"

"Karma, it has been a week since then. _Was_?"

"I think Gakushuu forgave me for the mishap," Karma says, throwing some extra cheek in there because really, Korosensei is great, but messing with him is way too much fun. “I’m taking him on a date to the movies tonight, so it's a reasonable assumption that he's moved on and he actually likes me now.”

Korosensei’s eyes widened. “Wha-what?” he splutters. “Karma is going on a date? With a _human_?”

“Well, I get to be the brooding, mysterious one in the relationship, don't I?”

“Karma!” Korosensei squeaks. “You cannot simply date a human — Gakushuu Asano, no less! That boy’s father has connections to the most powerful leaders in the supernatural underworld! If you do anything to that boy that he doesn't like, Gakuhou Asano will have my head on a stake!”

“I sucked out some of his blood, and your head still remains attached your body,” Karma says with a dismissive wave. “I thought you wanted me to be happy, Sensei, don’t you think this qualifies?”

Korosensei is still spluttering. “I-I-of course I do, Karma! But I-“

“Then it's settled,” Karma says breezily. “If you're worried, we’ll conclude our day at Inokashira Park at midnight, so you can see that I've left him in one piece. Just don’t embarrass me.” 

* * *

At 7:45 PM, only one of the nighttime regulars is inside the coffee shop — Kayano, who's a vampire almost as old as Korosensei and so exceptional at disguising herself Karma's heard she's gone off the vampire's naturally nocturnal schedule and does her work during the day, just like most humans do. She has a talent for sweets, and she sometimes helps the Isogais and Maeharas bake pastries for the shop in exchange for a discount on their coconut water. Isogai and Maehara themselves aren't even on shift yet, but both their mothers are.

"Hello," the older vampire says, waving at Karma. "It's nice to see another person here! How are you?"

Karma gives her a friendly smile. Surrounded by regular human customers, they both know that by _another person_ , she means _another vampire._ "I'll be out of here soon, but it's good to see you."

"Sit with me, then." Kayano pats the seat next to her. "There's been a lot of gossip about you this past week. Kanzaki told me about you and Asano. It was an interesting story."

Karma wonders what Kayano, a vampire who's centuries old, thinks of him for being so impulsive and reckless he attacks the first human he sees. Her smile is free of judgment, though, and it's hard not to relax around someone who ties her hair in pigtails and is shorter than Nagisa. " _Interesting_ is one way to word it," he says, smiling back at her.

"Oh, don't worry. I know how hard the adjustment period can be. It's strange, isn't it, thinking of how bloodthirsty you were just a week ago and you're so much—" Kayano scrunches up her face adorably. "Calmer nowadays."

"Adjusting the suppressants' dosage helps," Karma offers.

"Oh, I wouldn't know. I've never taken them."

"You haven't?"

"Not a single drop or pill. We didn't always have those. It's amazing that Manami invented them; she's so talented. Nevertheless, since I don't need them, I don't bother taking them."

"Wow, Kayano. That's amazing."

"Oh, I'm not amazing," she says, looking a bit flustered. A blush actually appears on her cheeks. It startles Karma, but if Korosensei could cry tears of blood, he assumes blushing is possible, too. Although unlike Korosensei, Kayano doesn't seem to be doing it for dramatic effect. "But thank you anyway. I can give you a few tips, if you'd like."

Karma cocks his head. "I'm listening."

They chat for the next ten minutes. Kayano has a lot of useful advice, some of which Korosensei has never even mentioned. She keeps a lot of candles in her house, for example, so whenever a human comes to visit, the scent of the candles burning dampens the scent of their blood. There's also a variety of foods that act as appetite suppressants, such as eggs and vegetable juice. "it's probably a good thing that I love sweets so much," she confides, poking at the brownie she ordered. "I can't take too many, because human food won't act as food for vampires and if I only eat sweets I'll starve to death, but it at least makes me feel fuller."

The bell above the door chimes. Karma checks to see if it's Gakushuu, and sure enough, it is. Karma's heart doesn't beat anymore, but he could swear it gives an abortive little sputter in his chest.

Gakushuu cleans up well, which doesn't surprise Karma in the least. He's dressed in a casual t-shirt and jeans, like most college students are, but the circles under his eyes are gone and his aura of near-murderous lethality has been concealed by a more natural charm that probably broke a lot of hearts back in high school. _Good thing my heart isn't functional enough to be breakable,_ Karma thinks to himself with a wry smirk.

"Karma," Gakushuu says, and inclines his head in greeting. "Kayano."

Kayano glances back and forth between the two of the, confusion twisting her face. She pieces it together. "Oh! Are you two hanging out tonight? That's wonderful!"

"We are," Karma says, standing up. "Gakushuu, do you want to get something before leaving?"

"I'm not having any caffeine for another two weeks, and I've indulged myself too much as it is," Gakushuu says. "So no thank you."

Karma scrunches up his face. “What happens in the third week?"

"We get the textbooks for next semester's classes. I read ahead."

He sighs. "I would argue with that, but I'll be right there with you. Come on, a cab to the theatre is waiting outside."

"And here I thought you vampires just flew everywhere in bat form."

"What? No." Karma crosses his arms and says smoothly, "That idea is absolutely batty."

Gakushuu mutters something along the lines of _I've never broken up with someone before the first date_ , but he follows Karma to the cab anyway.

* * *

_The Night Children_ is about the strange creatures lurking outside humans' windows in a tiny little suburb no one much cares about, and the creatures eventually reveal themselves to be vampires and take over the town, turning everyone there. The movie is a horribly inaccurate depiction of vampires, as Karma thought it would be.

"Does anyone even know that just because a vampire bites you, it doesn't mean you're automatically turned into a vampire too?" Karma whispers into Gakushuu's ear. He's been whispering into Gakushuu's ear for most of the movie, pointing out this mistake and that mistake, until he pretty much spends all of his time on Gakushuu's shoulder. Despite the human's pointed disinterest in his comments, neither of them seem to mind the proximity. "There's a process. You have to exchange blood and the vampire has to inject you with their venom and—"

"I'm aware of how vampires are created," Gakushuu says. "If I wasn't aware, I would assume I'm a vampire."

Karma pauses, his fingertips skimming the bite mark on Gakushuu's neck. It won't leave scars, but something strange sparks in Karma's stomach at the sight of it. Beneath his touch, Gakushuu shivers, just a little bit — not enough that Karma, had he still been human, would've been able to detect the movement.

“It’s not nearly as bad as they make it seem,” Karma says, nodding at the movie screen. The vampires are all deformed, wrinkled monstrosities who lose control the moment they see a single drop of blood. Karma cannot for the life of him — or the lack thereof — understand why they’re all bald. “Your physical abilities skyrocket, you’re immortal, and you hardly ever get tired.”

Gakushuu’s eyes are riveted to the screen, but Karma can tell he’s listening. “It never appealed to me,” he says. “Vampire politics are messy.”

Korosensei has saved Karma from a lot of that, and he’s grateful. He can’t imagine what being a newborn is like without someone to hold your hand through it. A thought strikes him. “Does it not bother you that I’m this close to your neck?”

Gakushuu snorts, raising his wrist, and a curious flash of skin catches Karma’s eye. A scar — two neat little puncture wounds. “You’re not even the first vampire to bite me. Don’t go about thinking you’re special.”

Karma touches that scar too, running his fingertips over Gakushuu’s skin. “How did it happen?”

“My father wanted to ensure that I couldn’t be caught off guard and turned like my mother. He made me fight a lot of your kind.” Gakushuu wraps his hand around Karma’s.

It’s good that Karma doesn’t breathe anymore, because if he did, he would be hyperventilating. He and Gakushuu are _holding hands._ Jesus Christ.

Karma doesn’t talk after that, but mostly because he doesn’t want Gakushuu to move away. 

* * *

By the time the movie ends, it's almost 10 PM, which Karma assumes is the reason Gakushuu raises an eyebrow when he tells him they're going to dinner. "Eating human dinners is a common custom to be polite to humans, I know," Gakushuu says. 'But you're not really polite, so i'm rather surprised."

“I’m not eating that food," Karma says with an airy wave. "Come on, we're walking there."

“To _where_?”

“Not telling.” Karma marches down the stairs to the subway. “It’s only two stops away, come on.”

Gakushuu sighs, catching up with him. “Very well. Slow down, will you? I’m only human.”

Karma obliges. Grabbing Gakushuu’s wrist — he can feel the human’s pulse beating, and it’s always so calm and steady, whereas Gakushuu is as quick and unpredictable as lightning — he taps on the scar again. “So I’m interested. While we’re on our way to the restaurant, do you have any stories you want to share?”

“Of me beating up vampires?” Gakushuu arches an eyebrow. “I would normally assume that would offend you, considering that you’re a vampire, but since it’s _you,_ I might as well mention the night I was fourteen and vampires tried to kidnap me so they could get a ransom from my father.”

“How successful were they?”

“They didn’t even get me out of my bedroom.” Gakushuu shrugs. “I scattered a bag full of sunflower seeds on the floor. They had to stop and count them all, and while they did, I took a limb from each of them.” He accepts the subway token Karma gives him. “They’re still alive, of course, but vampire limbs don’t regenerate.”

“Sounds painful.”

“You could at least try to sound alarmed,” Gakushuu says, not seeming to notice that Karma is still holding his wrist. “Although I’m not always like that, I assure you. Once, when I was sixteen, a vampire tried to seduce me. No limbs were removed.”

“Did it work?”

“I don’t really like sex, so it was rather difficult to compel me,” he says, a bit delicately. “Nevertheless, telling her I wasn’t interested and threatening to push her into a bathtub filled with holy water was enough to get her to slink away. I wish it was that easy to get vampires to leave me alone nowadays.”

“Aw, but then if it was that easy, you wouldn’t have me.”

Gakushuu scoffs. “And who says I wanted to have you, hm?”

Karma pouts at him. “I can’t believe that all along, it turns out my love for you was in _vein_.”

It takes a moment for it to sink in. Then Gakushuu says, “Where do you even get all these terrible jokes?”

“From a crypt writer.”

Gakushuu threatens to shove him in front of the subway train. Karma smirks back at him, fangs and all. 

* * *

The restaurant Karma takes him to is on a respectable enough street that’s littered with clothing shops and stores that sell antiques, stationery, and not much else. The inside is spacious, filled with polished white tables and smiling waiters. There are plenty of people sitting at those tables conversing with each other and enjoying their food, and who are very obviously humans. The only strange thing about it is that the booths have curtains.

Karma asks for a table for two and tugs at his scarf with a meaningful look. Comprehension dawns in the waiter’s eyes, and he escorts them to one of the booths, handing Gakushuu a perfectly normal-looking menu of various food items and Karma only a small pink card. “Unless you’d like that too, sir,” he adds, nodding at Gakushuu.

Karma shakes his head. “No thank you.”

Gakushuu sneaks a peek at Karma’s card. There are only three columns, plus a chart at the bottom with prices. The first says A, B, AB, or O; the second says + or -; the third says small, medium, or large. Next to each item is a checkbox.

"I doubt you didn't know 3-E wasn't the only vampire-friendly establishment in the city," Karma drawls, enjoying the surprise on his face. "This one will serve humans and vampires at the same time, though."

"It's also a thousand times shadier as a result. Maehara's and Isogai's families are smart enough to separate them."

"Shady, yes, but the quality of the blood is excellent, and so is the human food. I went here with Nagisa the other day.”

As they’re placing their orders, Karma pulls the curtain aside and surveys the restaurant. “Do you recognise anyone in here? Since your father has so many connections.”

Gakushuu scans the other customers. “Oh. There’s that man in the corner wearing the purple scarf. My father has dinner with him a couple times a month. He’s one of those pets — you know, the kind your friend with the bandana mentioned when we met.”

Karma tilts his head. “I’ve never met one of those kinds of humans before.”

“They’re extremely boring to talk to, considering they only like to discuss one thing,” Gakushuu says, grimacing. “I’ve never met a single one who wasn’t completely in love with their master. It’s disturbing.”

 _Docile,_ Itona said, and Karma shivers, even though he’s always cold anyway.

“The woman sitting with him is his master, I think.” Gakushuu nods at her. She’s undeniably beautiful, Karma notes, even though he’s never once been attracted to a girl, but she also looks like a textbook vampire, with long, dark hair and skin paler than bone. Her fangs shine in the restaurant’s fluorescent lighting. Subtle. It’s not surprising that there’s a ring of empty tables surrounding her.

“She looks—“ Karma searches for a word. “Old-fashioned.” At the questioning expression on Gakushuu’s face, Karma explains, “That’s what we call vampires who still insist on doing things like feeding directly from humans and refusing to go out during the daytime, I suppose.”

“An interesting euphemism.” The waiter shows up with a bowl of soup for Gakushuu and a mug of blood for Karma. Once he’s left, Gakushuu comments, “You know, the curtains aren’t exactly discreet.”

“They’re not trying to hide the vampires. All the operations going on here are completely legal, and they’re very strict about that. They’re just trying to hide the blood from any squeamish humans.” Karma inclines his head toward Gakushuu’s soup. “How is it?"

Gakushuu takes a sip. "I haven't had anything that constitutes a real meal except for the lunch you took me to on Wednesday, so anything tastes heavenly right now. But," he says, as Karma's gaze flashes in challenge, "it's not awful."

“You really couldn’t be more effusive with your praise if you tried.”

“Bite me,” Gakushuu says.

Karma raises an eyebrow. “I already did.” 

* * *

They make one more stop for the night. Karma did make a promise to Korosensei, after all, and it’s good to get a breath of fresh air. Especially for the one who’s been studying nonstop for the last few weeks.

Inokashira Park is pretty to Karma, but it's dark enough outside he doubts Gakushuu can see much. Despite this, Gakushuu doesn't stumble in the dark or hesitate to keep up with him, so who knows. “How does your speed compare to the average vampire’s?” Karma inquires, keeping an eye on the path ahead. “If, say, we had a race right now, do you think you could beat me?”

“Probably,” Gakushuu says, but scowls at him. “I’ve spent the past month consuming nothing but ramen and coffee, so if I tried right now, I couldn’t. Don’t bait me.”

Karma mockingly salutes him. “I’ll remember it for later.”

They’re quiet for a few minutes as they stroll through the park. One of the things Karma likes best about the city at night is that it’s silent, but not really — there’s always a low hum of activity, soft but vibrant and alive. The two of them stop by a pond and observe their reflections in the water, or at least Karma does. He likes the proof that not all vampire myths have a basis in fact. Gakushuu kneels down and scoops up a stone, throwing it into the pond. It skips one, two, three times and then sinks below the surface, disappearing with a ripple.

“I never learned how to do that,” Karma says. “Show me how?”

“Pick a flat stone. Triangular ones are best.”

Karma finds a flat stone, holding it up to show Gakushuu, but it’s circular, not triangular. He breaks off the edges, shaping it into a triangle.

Gakushuu snorts. “Show-off.”

He teaches Karma how to hold it, positioning his fingers with deft movements and then demonstrating how to throw it. Karma releases the stone with a quick snap of wrist. _One, two, three, four, five_ — he watches it drop below the water. “That’s more than you.”

“My record is seventeen,” Gakushuu says with a sweet smile that drips with condescension. He tugs Karma away from the pond. “If you’re going to try to beat that, do it some other time, or else we’ll be here all night. Stop trying to be better than me.”

“Maybe I just want to impress you,” Karma says.

“The only thing I find impressive about you is your lack of common sense. Come along, now.” Gakushuu starts walking down the path again, and Karma follows him.

They end up sitting together on a bench, observing the stars. Or at least Gakushuu does. Karma tries to avoid looking at it, since vampires have a natural compulsion to count things and he’ll be stuck here for a while if he starts on that. He looks at Gakushuu instead, his thoughts spinning in his head.

"I want to kiss you right now," Karma says. "But I know that freaks some humans out because what if I drip vampire venom down their throat or bite them or whatever, so I'm just checking to see if you're one of those humans."

"I'm not," Gakushuu says.

Karma can't claim he was first, since they move at the same time. Gakushuu's lips are soft and warm and distinctly human, but he doesn't seem to mind that Karma's aren’t. Karma has to be careful to keep his fangs retracted — he took a lot of Manami's potions in preparation for tonight, but his throat is still burning up when he's so close to Gakushuu that the human's pulse is as loud and steady as the beat of a drum — but Gakushuu has no such concerns, kissing him with wild abandon. Karma lets himself be pushed to the edge, inhaling Gakushuu's intoxicatingly sweet scent, but he doesn't quite let himself be pushed _over._

"Mm." Gakushuu kisses him some more, then suddenly pulls back. He rolls his eyes at Karma's confused expression. "We humans need oxygen, you know."

Karma would blush if he could. "I'm sorry. We'll take a break."

"No, I think I'm good." Gakushuu leans in to kiss him again, but Karma stops him, pressing a finger to his lips. "What?"

Karma keeps a perfectly straight face on as he says, "Your beauty is breathtaking."

Instead of the expected groan, Gakushuu looks back at him and says smoothly, “You’re a pain in the neck.”

Karma grins and goes back to kissing Gakushuu, even when he hears Korosensei weeping from joy in the distance.

**Author's Note:**

> Karma is quite thirsty in this fic, both figuratively and literally. Sorry, just had to point that out. Also, for anyone who’s wondering: yes, I did mean the “I don’t like sex, so it was rather difficult to compel me” line as Gakushuu being asexual.
> 
> Talk to me about Assassination Classroom on Tumblr [@karushuus](http://karushuus.tumblr.com).


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